Stocks Opened Mostly Lower

U.S. stocks opened mostly lower on Thursday, as the busiest day of this earnings season got under way. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 129.59 points, or 0.52%, to 24,885.27. The S&P 500 added 4.23 points, or 0.16%, to 2,685.28. The Nasdaq Composite gained 57.32 points, or 0.80%, to 7,240.40.

Oil futures prices churned in little-changed trading Thursday to cap off a solid January that delivered a roughly 19% monthly gain for the commodity. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was little changed at $54.24 a barrel. March Brent crude rose 35 cents, or 0.5%, to $62.00 a barrel.

General Electric Co beat estimates for sales and cash flow in the fourth quarter. It reported a $666-million profit for the fourth quarter and said revenue rose 5 percent to $33.3 billion, above analyst estimates of $32.6 billion, according to Refinitiv IBES.

United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) reported a fourth-quarter profit that beat expectations, although revenue came up a bit shy. Net income for the latest quarter fell to $453 million, or 52 cents a share, from $1.24 billion, or $1.42 a share, in the same period a year ago. Revenue rose 4.6% to $19.85 billion from $18.98 billion.

Altria Group Inc. (MO) had net income of $1.250 billion, or 66 cents a share, in the fourth-quarter, down about 75% from $4.966 billion, or $2.60 a share, in the year-earlier period. Revenue net of excise taxes came to $4.8 billion. The company said it now expects 2019 adjusted EPS of $4.15 to $4.27.

Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) posted stronger-than-expected revenue for the fourth quarter. The company said it had net income of $296 million, or $1.29 a share, in the quarter, down from $9.53 billion, or $34.56 a share, in the year-earlier period. Revenue rose 5.9% to $11.2 billion.

Mastercard Inc. (MA) reported mixed fourth-quarter results, beating on earnings but delivering in-line revenue. The company posted net income of $900 million, or 87 cents a share, up from $200 million, or 21 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Net revenue climbed to $3.8 billion from $3.3 billion.